The invention is particularly well suited for sensing wet fabric that has supposedly been dried, and especially fabric where a highly combustible vapor accompanies the wet fabric. A good use of the invention is in the continual monitoring of a continuous sheet of plain woven tire cord fabric which has been treated with a bonding agent that is carried by a combustible vaporizable solvent which is removed as the fabric is dried. In such cases, combustible vapors accompany the wet fabric and must be removed prior to further treatment of the fabric. The detection of such vapor has been very difficult in the past, because of the small quantity of vapor given off by a wet fabric. The invention is directed to solving this problem by providing adjacent the moving fabric, a chamber in which a sufficient amount of vapor or fluid can be accumulated to become detectable.
Briefly stated, the invention is in a device for sensing wetness of supposedly dry fabric treated with a vaporizable solvent carrier and coating agent. The apparatus comprises a pair of parallel, elongated idler rolls for contacting a moving fabric in spaced relation, the rolls being rotated by the moving fabric. Means are provided for forming a chamber, adjacent the fabric and at least between the rolls, in which vapor from wet fabric can accumulate. Other means are supplied for drawing fluid from this chamber and analyzing it to determine if the fabric is too wet and has not sufficiently dried.